Use your time wisely

“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.”
— Auguste Rodin

One of the easiest things to change is your perspective. It is really just a new thought away. So with this easily acquirable tool in hand, life can send its lemons our way and we can simply squeeze them into lemonade.

Every experience we encounter on our path — whether we first see it as good or not so good — can be put to effective use when we take the time to do so.

We can change a problem into a solution with a quick flip of the mind. We can take something we think is working against us and end up using it to work with us. The options are endless when you utilize your ability to change perspectives wisely.

Feng Shui in your daily life

Lillian Too explains in The Complete Illustrated Guide to Feng Shui that “Feng Shui offers a method of living life in a harmonious relationship with the earth’s environment and with its energy lines. Its practice can enhance your good fortune in many areas of your life, including your family relationships, your career, and your business.”

One of the most important tips I learned from Feng Shui was that clutter blocks the energy flow in your home or office. Now, whether or not you want to go deep into the world of Feng Shui, you have to admit that there is something that rings true in that concept. I have always said, “Mess is stress”. And clutter is definitely mess.

So eliminate one stressful part of your life and pick up any places that tend to get cluttered. You will find that your mind will function with more ease when there is no mess lying around. And you may also improve your luck and good fortune at the same time.

Tune in today at 2pm EST to Real Life Radio as I interview certified Feng Shui Practitioner, Mary Giuffre. Mary has been a student of energy and metaphysics since her early teen years. She’s studied under a Native American Shaman, Energy healers in Sedona Arizona, and a variety of intuitives and spiritual teachers in Canada. Learn how to tap into your “place of heart” and practice Feng Shui for your spirit in your daily life.

Make it simple

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
— Henry David Thoreau

We all have goals, whether we formally write them down or we just have certain standards we want to live up to each day. And that is what it’s all about, right? Keep growing, keep learning with each new goal we tack on to our list.

But how easy are we making it for ourselves with these goals we keep adding on? Are they attainable goals? Are they even our goals (v.s. things others expect us to achieve and so we take on as ours)?

It’s good to review our goals every now and then to see where we are at with them. Some may already be ready to come off the list because we have accomplished them. Others, we may want to drop off because they are no longer relevant due to other life changes that have occurred along the way. And some should be scaled back - made simpler.

For example, if you decided at some point in your life that you should “love” everyone in your life, perhaps you have found that it is not as easy as you would like. Maybe “love” is too powerful a word at this stage. Scale it back a little to start with. Be “kind” to everyone in your life is simpler to accomplish. You don’t need to “love” someone to be kind to them. But kindness is an act of love. So you have just made your life easier and you are accomplishing your goals. And that is what counts.

What do you want to do with it?

“The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.”
— John F. Kennedy, (1917 - 1963)

Take control of your life by finding exactly what you are passionate about and living it in excellence right this very moment. When we allow ourselves to live each day to its fullest, our appreciation and gratitude for life increases.

Find the joy in the moments of life and have passion for what you do every day. This is our only opportunity to live today and express ourselves to our fullest potential.

Don’t keep waiting, wondering, and wishing. Your life is in your hands. What do you want to do with it?

Family day caring

“Whether at home or at work, people who find their lives fulfilling care about those around them.”
David Niven, Ph. D. The 100 Simple Secrets of Successful People

Caring for others brings a sense of connectedness to one’s life. A natural starting point is with your family. Caring comes in many forms — being courteous, saying kind words, sharing with others, helping even when not asked to help, actually listening to others feelings, trusting, respecting, and lovely, gentle caresses throughout the day.

Caring is also important beyond the family. Simple ways of caring can be done through volunteering, donating, and actively getting involved with your community. This is a perfect time of year to bring more fulfillment to your life by helping others in need of a little extra caring.

We are all one

“Love is the greatest refreshment in life.” — Pablo Picasso

Valentine’s Day can bring a big mix of emotions. Some people love this day because they get to be lavished with tokens of affection or they get to lavish someone they care about with some special gesture. Then there are those who have lost their loved ones and feel sadness over missing them. What about those in relationships that have lost their “love” for one another? And still there are those who are not in relationships that may have indifference or even bitterness on this day made for “lovers”.

I’d like to give one more way to experience this day no matter what your relationship situation is like. Realize that we are all one and we are always connected. The Native Americans call this permanent connectedness “Mitakuye Oyasin”.

With this powerful thought, we can enjoy feeling loved and giving love no matter what label we have assigned to our relationships. We can also enjoy feeling love by bringing back our cell memories of love that we have experienced in the past (yes, our cells remember everything!). Take a deep breath and connect to a time where you were filled with love and feel it completely. This will shift your energy immediately and you will actually attract more of this “love” vibration into your life right now in the present moment.

Practice gratitude for all that is wonderful about your life and enjoy Valentine’s Day exactly as it is and you will feel good — guaranteed.

A special word picture about LOVE

I had a little fun creating a word picture about love just in time for Valentine’s Day… I hope you like it.

Accept the timing

“Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.”
— Hesiod (~ 800 BC)

I have been a student of intent for quite a while now. What does that mean? Well, I have been reading and studying the fine art of manifesting exactly what I want in my life with the help of quite a few of the great masters in the world of self-creation. Do I have everything in my life exactly as I want it now? Yes, and no.

I have obtained a level of satisfaction and gratitude for my life exactly as it is in the present moment. The biggest lesson has been wanting things to happen sooner than later. I still have to remind myself that things will come to be exactly when they are meant to be. So I have to let go.

That does not mean that I begin to procrastinate on working toward my goals. It does not mean I am continually forcing myself forward, either. It simply means I have to stay centered and accept what comes my way when it comes my way. And in the meantime, I will enjoy the ride and the uniqueness of each new moment in my life.

Let yourself be present to your emotions

“What if, instead of ‘reframing’ my emotions, I simply welcomed them and allowed them to be fully felt? I wonder if I might find this peace she is speaking about in the core of the feeling?”
— Brandon Bays, The Journey

What an interesting concept. Not only does Brandon Bays suggest that you accept your emotions, but she actually believes that we should welcome all our emotions and feel them completely. These days you hear everything from changing your negative thoughts to positive ones, do whatever you can to avoid the emotions, or even recommendations to take drugs to numb the feelings.

It has been on my journey of self-discovery that I have discovered that nothing is what it seems at the surface level. All the emotions I have been working through to get to my best me has proven that my first surface, impression was usually inaccurate. My anger wasn’t just anger, it was fear. My self-destructive thoughts were actually there to show me that I lacked self-confidence. I could go on and on.

Once you allow yourself to feel your emotions fully, but not wallow in them or dump them on someone else, you can start to peal away the layers that have been building up on the original feeling. Sometimes you will even discover that your present day breakdowns have more to do with a past emotional hurt than with the trigger event that brought the feelings up in the present moment.

What are your expectations for life?

“If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.”
— Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993)

We go by many titles and wear many hats throughout the days and years of our lives. And with each different role comes a different expectation of how we are supposed to act, what we are supposed to do. And, usually more importantly, how we are not to act and not to do. With all these rules and regulations surrounding us we might tend to get so completely caught up in what is expected of us that we forget to ask the question “does living my life this way make sense to me?”

Sometimes these expectations can leave us feeling overwhelmed and we might even lose sense of who we are deep in the heart of ourselves. These feelings will certainly not lead us to a life of happiness now or in the future. If we are confused and lost and suffering now, it will only create more confusion, loss, and suffering later.

Break free of all the cumbersome expectations that have piled so thick around you that you no longer can see your authentic self. Choose to live in the present moment and enjoy each magical moment that you can create for yourself right now. The only expectation you need to think about is a bright, happy life that you choose to live, in your own way through love.

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